Schatz Applauds President's Equal Pay Actions

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) supported the announcement that President Obama will be taking two new executive actions to help combat pay discrimination and strengthen enforcement of equal pay laws.  The executive actions apply the standards of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which Senator Schatz is a co-sponsor of and the Senate is considering this week, to federal contractors. The Paycheck Fairness Act improves the remedies available to victims fo discrimination and closes loopholes that allows employers to pay women less. 

“In Hawaii, the most expensive state in the nation, women are paid 83 cents for every dollar paid to a man. This means a woman working full-time takes home almost $8,000 dollars a year less.  Women earning less for the same work is unfair and it’s plain wrong,” said Senator Schatz.  “And holding back women as well as their families also hurts our economy. President Obama’s Executive Actions will help combat any pay discrimination and set an important example in our economy through their application with federal contractors. We need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this week to make sure all women have a fair shot at equal pay for equal work.”

Tomorrow, April 8th is Equal Pay Day, the day representing how far into this year a woman must work to earn a salary equal to what a man earned last year.

President Obama is signing an Executive Order prohibiting federal contractors from retaliating against employees who choose to discuss their compensation.  The Executive Order does not compel workers to discuss pay, nor does it require employers to publish or otherwise disseminate pay data – but it does provide a critical tool to encourage pay transparency, so workers have a potential way of discovering violations of equal pay laws and are able to seek appropriate remedies.  The President is also signing a Presidential Memorandum instructing the Secretary of Labor to establish new regulations requiring federal contractors to submit to the Department of Labor summary data on compensation paid to their employees, including data by sex and race.  The Department of Labor will use the data to encourage compliance with equal pay laws and to target enforcement more effectively by focusing efforts where there are discrepancies and reducing burdens on other employers.

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